hi all, i've been lurking for a bit now, this is my first post ;)  

am starting up my own business and based on my own personal experiences (and unhappy stories i've read online that may or may not be true) i do not want to use paypal to accept payments.  a bit of googling has led me to discover dwolla, which i've never even heard of, but am glad to know it's an alternative to paypal.  

does anyone use dwolla as a way to accept partial or full payments before you even begin baking and/or deliver the order?  

https://www.dwolla.com/businesses

i know there are tangible/physical credit card swipers + aps i can use with my smart phone but my smart phone is a bit old and i don't know if it's compatible with the hardware + software.  plus, dwolla seems to have cheaper processing fees than using a tangible phone swiping device thing.....

anyone advice from you experts would be much appreciated.

TIA.